


Gravel Road Heroes

by Eknodine (Eknomind)



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Happy, Hospitals, M/M, Rallying, crashes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-10 19:23:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7002184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eknomind/pseuds/Eknodine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kimi is desperate for a new co-driver, Sebastian is desperate for a Finnish rally driver.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The kar was guut but the reis was bääd

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Arttu Wiskari's song Sorateiden Sankarit (go and see the music video, Kimi is in it).
> 
> This has been a pain in the ass, but for once it's better with less angst. So a happy fic in the making, I hope.

Kimi had smiled when he lifted the championship trophy for the first time with his co-diver. Kaj was an experienced co-driver who had read notes for many legends like the three times world champion Tommi Mäkinen. Kimi was surprised, though, when Kaj told him he wanted to leave the sport. Kimi found himself in a difficult position, having to choose a new co-driver. However, he was very reluctant to pick anybody, because he really wanted someone who could read the notes in Finnish and had sufficient experience. 

It had been months and Kimi still hadn’t found a co-driver. One night he got a phone call from Kaj.  
“Have you stopped being picky and chosen someone already?” Kaj asked.  
“I’m not being picky. The offers are shit!”  
“Whatever. I’ve got someone,” Kaj told him, sounding quite excited, “Sebastian. Big fan of yours.”  
“Since when have either of them been interested in reading notes?” Kimi asked, utterly confused.  
“Sebastian, not Sébastien. He’s really young, but I’ve seen him do a great job in smaller series.”  
“Fine,” Kimi scoffed, not entirely convinced, “Call him. No way am I going over to Finland for that.”  
“About that,” Kaj said, “He is German.”  
Kimi ended the call abruptly, annoyed that no one seemed to get it. He needed a Finn since he wasn’t fluent enough in English to drive with English notes. Kimi ended up watching hockey and drinking beer in order to get rid of his annoyance.

Kimi woke up at his doorbell ringing. Not bothering with clothes he made it to the door, ready to yell at whoever dared to bother him so early in the morning. Well, it might not have been morning for real, but everyone should know by now that Kimi didn’t wake up before noon unless he really had to. He opened the door to find an excited boy dying to meet him.   
“Leave me alone,” Kimi grunted and turned to close the door, only to find a foot blocking it.  
“No. Kaj sent me and I’m not leaving before talking to you,” the boy insisted, causing Kimi to curse Kaj to the depths of hell.  
“There’s no way of getting rid of you now, is there?” Kimi said, defeated, and opened the door properly, letting the kid in. Kimi almost laughed at the boy’s awkwardness, probably caused by Kimi’s half-naked state. 

“I’m Sebastian,” Sebastian introduced himself, going for a handshake which Kimi refused “I want to be your co-driver.”  
“Not going to happen,” Kimi said, hoping to get the kid out of his house as soon as possible, “I need a Finn.”  
“I can read in Finnish,” Sebastian said, “That’s why Kaj recommended me.”  
”You can?”  
“Yeah. I love- I mean I’ve worked with Finns before,” Sebastian blabbered, “not as a co-driver though. I used to drive myself and then I became a co-driver-“  
“Not really interested,” Kimi cut him off, “I just want Finnish notes and you are the only one thus far to be able to provide. You are hired.”  
Kimi instantly regretted his decision when the young German screamed excitedly and hugged him.

“Vasen 60 eri kirraa, sata nyppy-“  
”Vittujen kevät!” Kimi cursed as they hit a curve and rolled over and stopped on their side, car lying against a tree.   
“Seb, are you okay?”  
“Yeah.”  
Kimi opened his door, it being the one pointing towards the sky now. He climbed out before helping Sebastian out of the wreck. After a short inspection it was clear that the car was busted and their rally was over before it had really began.   
Back in the team’s tent, Kimi went over the crash with Sebastian.   
“Look at this,” he said, pointing at the notes, “they are spot on. You read them wrong!”  
“I did not!”  
“Here,” Kimi showed his ne co-driver the exact point “Right 40, do not cut. You said left 60 tightens.”  
“I didn’t!”  
“Here’s the video. Watch it and then come apologize,” Kimi said annoyed and pushed an USB stick to Sebastian’s hand before walking away.

“Kaj, I need your help!” Sebastian begged on the phone.  
“No you don’t” Kaj answered.  
“Have you been watching the rallies?” Sebastian fumed “Because we’ve crashed in all of them and Kimi will fire me if I can’t read the notes correctly.”  
“I have seen it. And you don’t need my help. You know how to do it, I can’t help. Really, the problem is obvious. You can’t concentrate properly and only you can figure out why,” Kaj advised.  
“But-“  
“No buts. This is your problem,” Kaj cut Sebastian off, “You can do it and you will do it. Call me if you forget how to read altogether, otherwise you should stop bothering me.” He ended the call. Sebastian stared at his phone utterly confused.

It only came to him when they almost crashed again. Thankfully it had only been a small mistake and Kimi was able to recover, but it had cost them some precious time. Sebastian had been reading the notes and after he informed Kimi about next big jump at the end of a 100 meter straight, he found himself looking amazed how Kimi slid out of the corner and sped to the straight truly on with the car. Then he made the mistake, having lost the correct spot on the page because he was looking at Kimi. When Sebastian later thought about it in his hotel room, he realised that he had lost it every time because he was watching Kimi or thinking about him. 

Kimi was surprised to find Sebastian at his doorstep, carrying flowers. They had kept their relationship entirely professional, with the exception of some very unprofessional curses and fights about Sebastian’s note reading and Kimi’s driving. Kimi accepted the flowers, utterly confused.  
“Um, I just wanted to say sorry and maybe talk?” Sebastian said shyly. Kimi let him in and put the flowers into his water can, not bothering to find a proper vase.   
“So, why are you here?” Kimi asked his co-driver, signing the nervous German to sit down.  
“I might have found out what’s wrong with my reading,” Sebastian began, “and this is very embarrassing, please don’t laugh at me!” he blurted out, blushing. Kimi sighed and urged him to continue.  
“Okay, here goes. I might have something of a crush on you,” Sebastian confessed, “It’s embarrassing and I thought I’d get over it, but it keeps distracting me and I understand if you fire me because of it.” Sebastian saw Kimi’s eyes widen at the revelation. The Finn stared him for a while, mouth hanging open. Finally Kimi smirked at him.  
“I won’t fire you,” the Finn laughed, “I can’t really get anyone else now, can I?”  
Sebastian smiled weakly, nodding.  
“But we need to do something about your concentration issues,” Kimi added, “Maybe I should try to be less attractive?”  
“I don’t think you could ever achieve that,” Sebastian laughed, relieved that Kimi was taking it so well. 

For the next rally, Kimi showed up dressed in a gorilla suit, not wanting to talk much about it, but Kimi’s personal trainer, Mark, smiled in a way that could only mean that it was because of some silly bet. They won for the first time as a pair. Sebastian jumped up and down, hugging Kimi, not caring that the Finn answered to his hug very awkwardly. Kimi lifted the trophy with a blank expression and gave his signature thumbs up to the cheering crowds. Sebastian was pointing his index finger to the sky. Later in the evening Sebastian told Kimi that he almost lost that finger in a racing accident and had celebrated with it ever since. Kimi had taken Sebastian to a karaoke bar and had refused to listen the German’s complaints. Sebastian was surprised to see Kimi become uncharacteristically social after a few shots, joking with strangers, dancing and eventually climbing to the stage to sing karaoke. Sebastian was ready to cover his ears, certain that what would come next was going to cause some serious Fremdscham. Turned out that Kimi had chosen a song that suited his voice quite well. Sebastian ended up enjoying as Kimi’s singing. The song ended and Kimi returned, downed yet another shot of Finnish vodka and then dragged Sebastian with him to the dance floor.


	2. It's not ideal

The next rally was awful. They were slow at every special stage before crashing out in the middle of nowhere. They blamed each other while waiting for rescue, not caring that TV cameras probably caught them arguing and got sponsors fuming once again.   
“Why can’t you admit that this one was on you? Not every crash is my fault!” Sebastian yelled at Kimi, who stubbornly blamed Sebastian while keeping his poker face and his voice steady.   
“Because you forgot to mention a big ass rock in the middle of the road,” Kimi answered.   
“It wasn’t in the notes and you made the fucking notes!”  
“Fine. I made the notes! You happy now?” Kimi said, throwing his hands in the air.   
“Not really. I’m still in the middle of nowhere and it’s hot and we’re out of water.”  
“Have you tried not being a whiny child?”  
“Have you tried not being old and slow?” Kimi shot an angry look at Sebastian before deciding it wasn’t worth the effort and walking away from the wreck to cool himself down.  
“Fine, go. See if I care!” Sebastian yelled after him, “You really are a robot and I bloody hope you rust!”

“Isn’t it funny how his co-driver seems to care more than he does?”  
Kimi kept walking past, pretending he didn’t hear people talking shit about him. Everyone seemed to think he didn’t hear them or care even if he did. They were wrong. People thought he was an emotionless driving machine, just because he went through life with his cards close to his chest and it seemed Sebastian had joined them. Sebastian had won the team over easily. Sebastian was very likeable and straightforward without being blunt like Kimi was. Sebastian oh-so-bloody perfect Vettel. 

The season hadn’t gone as expected and the rumours and bullshit talk were getting worse by the minute. Kimi had worked himself into very bad mood by the time he got to the garage tent to see if the car could be saved or if he needed a new one. He cursed when the car’s damaged bonnet refused to stay up on its own.  
“Come here,” Kimi yelled to the person lurking in the corner, “Hold this!”  
As a hand grabbed the bonnet, Kimi recognised the person to be Sebastian.  
“Leave me alone,” Kimi spat at his co-driver.   
“Kimi-“  
Kimi pushed Sebastian away and the bonnet fell with a loud bang. Kimi shook his head.  
“So I have feelings now? Did you come to fucking apologize so that you could feel good about yourself?” Sebastian’s eyes widened in shock. Kimi never acted like this. Kimi was always calm and collected and he never yelled at anyone.   
“Kimi, what is this?” Sebastian asked, a futile attempt to get any of it to make sense.  
“How about I go sit in the corner and rust while you figure it out,” Kimi suggested. Sebastian felt his jaw drop. By the time Sebastian managed to snap out of the shock, the Finn was already gone.

Sebastian saw his life flash before his eyes. The car rolled over and over again and finally stopped upside down some 20 meters below the road they were supposed to be on. He carefully opened his belts and kicked his door open. Only after checking that all his limbs were intact, Sebastian noticed that Kimi was still in the car. Sebastian crawled to the driver’s side of the car and forced the door open. The Finn hung upside down, not moving and eyes closed. Sebastian hauled Kimi out of the car without even thinking the possibility of making the damage worse. Eventually rescue workers winced Kimi back up and into an ambulance. Sebastian opted to wait for the recovery of the car, not wanting to know, how bad it was for Kimi, let alone hear, whose fault it was.

Sebastian smiled softly, listening to the conversation coming from Kimi’s room.  
“Mr. Räikkönen, you have a concussion, broken ankle and –“  
“Whatever. When can I race?”  
“It’s too early for me to say.”  
“Then get someone who can.”  
“I _am_ your doctor.”  
Sebastian coughed a bit as he entered the room. The doctor seemed relieved not to be left alone to face the stubborn Finn. Sebastian took a seat next to Kimi’s bed, keeping a modest distance.   
“Kimi you need to rest,” he said to Kimi and then turned to look at the doctor, “seriously though, when can he race?” Kimi shot a devilish smile at him.  
“The earliest he can race is after three weeks, but it depends on multiple-”  
“Thank you,” Sebastian cut him off, offering his sweetest smile, “That wasn’t so hard after all. You can go now.” The doctor left muttering to himself something about dangerous sports and reckless idiots. As soon as the door closed, Kimi laughed.   
“You have to teach that to me one day!” Sebastian pretended to think about it.  
“I’m afraid the natural charm of clan Vettel is something you’re born with,” he said and winked playfully.

“Seb.”  
“Huh?”  
“You know, it wasn’t your fault.”  
“Kimi, it’s two am. You want to have this conversation now?” Kimi shrugged.  
“Well, now I’ve had time to think about it. Wanted to say it before I forgot.”  
“You’re unbelievable.”  
“I know. That’s why you like me.” Sebastian nodded, but stayed silent.  
“I guess that’s why I like you too,” Kimi added. Sebastian raised his head and their gazes met.  
“Really?!”  
“As I said, I’ve had time to think. I don’t even mind breaking my ankle, because now I get to spend more time with you,” Kimi said sincerely, “Also, if someone had to break their bones, I’m happy it’s me and not you.”  
“I’m just happy that you are okay,” Sebastian said, feeling his eyes getting wet.  
“I’m happy you are okay too,” Kimi answered and embraced Sebastian awkwardly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kept writing ‘rave’ instead of ‘race’ and it was way too funny.  
> Just imagine Kimi asking, when he can rave again. Totally worth it.


End file.
